Say hello to the newest member of the Buccaneer’s Guild – Banjo the Clown. Because every pirate crew needs one. And without further ado, my first post:

The 7th edition of Gamma World is now complete. Which is an odd thing to say, because the game in itself was advertised as complete. But this expansion really rounds things up. The things that felt like they were missing from the base game are finally here.

Instead of writing up a list of the things that are inside I thought I’d do an unboxing video instead. I did end up making a few mistakes (on which I’ll elaborate later) and the video quality is a bit grainy but bear with us as this is our first attempt.

It’s hard to review this game without reviewing Gamma World itself. Everything that this expansion adds, feels like it should have been part of the game all along. I imagine this was deliberate WotC strategy targeted at gamers who want to have ‘the entire thing’ without too many purchases. I know this because I am one of these completists (although the disease has not progressed lately and is being kept under check by my wife and student budget). Is this an ideal publishing model? No. I would have preferred that both of these expansions were part of a single boxset bunched up together with the main game and sold in a higher price range. Then later on, after the vocal internet community has expressed what it wants, a new expansion could be released that features these additions. Unfortunately, this publishing and design model is a bit too old. Companies like to preplan everything now; they know what source material is going to come out for a game a year before the game is even out. This, of course, has its ups and downs. But I digress…

I say I digress because Gamma World is still a great game. The only thing that irks me about it is that most players, when creating characters, focus on the quirky too much leaving the rest slightly one-dimensional. This closes off a lot of roleplaying options during game-time. I am guilty of this too. Just ask my Hawkoid-Arachnoid character, Piotr Parker.

The unboxing video says that there are six new origins. There are in fact eight of them. And whilst some feel a bit here and there, they are still great additions to the grand total. The unboxing video also says that there are no feats in Gamma World which is no longer true because it is one of the things that the expansion adds. Every origin gets a set of three feats which you get at levels four, seven and ten. The first question my wife asked was “Are there more levels now?” to which I had to sadly shake my head. This would have been amazing frankly. Finally, the video says that the adventure takes you to the moon, which is true. But there is also an entire chapter devoted to Moon Zone 9, an outer space location that provides rules and useful tips for running adventures outside of Gamma Terra. And let’s not forget the very important moon gear (no ancient moon junk table though).

What did I forget? The forty-five odd pages devoted to new monsters which fill out the higher level monster tier, missing in the base game and the first expansion. I am glad to report that monsters now go all the way up to level fourteen. Finally Piotr will be able to dine on his favorite meal – the space eel.